My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Newton County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1888.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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M. W. Clay, farmer and loan agent at Neosho, Mo., was born in New York, April 18, 1843, and was reared in Kankakee County, Ill. His parents, John B. and Eliza (Bruso) Clay, were the parents of six children, and the father was a mechanic by trade. Their eldest son, Moses W., was taken by his parents to Illinois and reared to the trade of machinist, which he followed until twenty-five years of age. After the outbreak of the oil excitement in Pennsylvania, he removed to that section and there remained fourteen years, or until 1880, when he came to Missouri. His operations in Pennsylvania ware on an extensive scale, but he lost heavily by fire. After coming to Missouri, he turned his attention to mechanical pursuits, and invented an improvement in engines known as “converting motion,” and sold the improvement at a handsome profit. He also invented a self-acting churn, which he sold for a satisfactory sum. His first purchase after coming to this county was a small tract of land, to which he has added from time to time until he now owns 1,060 acres, and since coming to Missouri he has laid by a sufficient amount to liquidate his loss by fire. Mr. Clay was married August 2, 1869, to Miss Nancy L. Bunker, of Oberlin, Ohio, and they have six children: George R., Alda, Charlie, Lovona, Willie and Walter. Mr. Clay is a live, energetic, go-ahead man of good business capacity.

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This family biography is one of 220 biographies included in The History of Newton County, Missouri published in 1888.  For the complete description, click here: Newton County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Newton County, Missouri family biographies, click here

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